


The Man with the Power

by Kissa



Category: Captain America (Movies), Lucifer (TV)
Genre: Captain America - Freeform, Crossover, Gen, Lucifer - Freeform, mcu - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-03
Updated: 2018-05-03
Packaged: 2019-05-01 18:48:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14526882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kissa/pseuds/Kissa
Summary: Set right after Steve came out of the ice. He’s only recently begun to work with SHIELD again. On a mission in LA, he meets the Devil himself.





	The Man with the Power

 Steve was walking around the neighbourhood aimlessly, trying to get out of his head and to fill his mind with the vibrant colours of the city instead. Still a day and a half to burn until he was due to return to NY.

He stopped in front of the window of the Ladurée store, looking at the goods on display and at the customers inside.   
  
Men buying assorted macarons for their wives and mistresses; parents buying themselves a few moments of quiet from their kids with pralines and _millefeuille_ . Single women treating themselves to something decadent and sweet.   
  
Steve sighed - this was who he would always be: looking at life through a window, from the outside.   
  
He had grown up assuming someone would marry him; that they would have kids and he would feel like he belongs somewhere in the world. But his life had turned out much more different than what he had wished for - much worse. And he had come to terms with being a placeholder of a person, a store mannequin for the Captain America suit.   
  
On good days, he was at peace with that and even felt a sort of lightness at knowing that no one depended on him. No direct relatives to miss him. The Avengers were more than capable to fill his spot if he was killed in action and they would definitely move on without him.   
  
But on some days, like this one, the world went out of its way to show him he was unwanted, an outsider who had lost his right to love and the feeling of belonging. Sometimes, Steve wondered if he would have enjoyed being a dad. Not if he would look good with a baby in his arms of if he would step up to the plate and help his spouse with parenting. He could no longer tell if the invisible fist squeezing his heart whenever he saw happy families was regret or envy. On most days, he mourned the loss of choice.   
  
Because it would have been despicable to have children now. The soldier, whose mission was to protect everyone else at the cost of his own life, could not betray someone he claimed to love in this way.   
  
There were so many people around him telling him he should seize the moment and live his life, find a girl and have a bunch of kids. After all, such prime breeding stock should not go to waste. Racists wanted him to have kids as a symbol of the white race surviving in front of immigration. Conservatives wanted him to have kids so they could put him on their pro-life posters. People on the street thought that Captain America should definitely have kids because they would grow into hot adults just like their dad.   
  
And Steve wanted to punch them all into outer space. No one understood how he felt because no one saw him. They saw the symbol and their own dreams projected onto him.

Today, he felt that cold fist close around his heart, but he also felt it let go after a few moments. Because this was what he did - survive. Stare the darkest, loneliest abyss in the eyes, then turn around and put up a smile.   
  
Also, he soon became aware of someone else standing behind him and saw their face reflected into the glass before them.   
  
“My my, what’s a nice blond like you doing alone out here? Whatever it is that’s making you frown so hard, can I make it go away? Call it… a favour.”

“I’m sorry?” Steve turned and looked at the dark-haired man, who was significantly taller than him but leaner and wearing a Prada suit.   
  
“I’m Lucifer. Lucifer Morningstar, this is what I do, I grant people favours.”   
  
Steve didn’t even flinch. A man claiming to be the actual Devil from the Bible? Why not? After all, he had seen Thor just a few days prior.   
  
Worst case scenario, the man was some sort of improv artist and he’d distract him for a while. And also, Steve noticed, Lucifer was very attractive. Not exactly a classical beauty, with a profile like an Egyptian queen, and an ensnaring little glint dancing in his dark, dark eyes.   
  
Why not.   
  
“Now tell me, Steve Rogers,” Lucifer began, making eye contact and coming closer. “Yes, yes, did you think I did not recognize you? Fancy meeting you here of all places… if Mohamed won’t go to the mountain and all that.”   
  
Now Lucifer had stepped to stand almost flush against Steve. They would only have to tilt their heads slightly and they could kiss, Steve thought, then quickly censored himself.   
  
“Tell me, Steve. What is it that you desire?”   
  
While Lucifer’s charms were very compelling, Steve did not feel any different than before.   
  
“I want… for these things-” he said, gesturing at the happy families inside the shop, “to no longer remind me of what I lost. I want to not feel so lonely all the time.”

Lucifer smiled warmly and looked into the shop. 

“Do you think they are happy?” He said, pointing at the people inside.   
  
“Yes, they seem to be.They accomplished what the world required of them. And they have one another.” Steve replied.   
  
“If I learned anything about humans, that is particular to them, and only to them, it’s that they have the ability to justify even the most atrocious acts they commit in their own eyes. They are able to rationalise every bad decision and will invent benefits for every dark desire. And if they feel threatened by anything, it’s by proof that their decisions were wrong in the first place. They often forget they have their precious free will and usually remember to act on it only when it comes to making dumb choices. You’re free, Steve. And like you said, the price of freedom is high. And that price is loneliness.” Lucifer ended his little speech and looked down at his hands. “I should know.”   
  
Steve stood there, unable to think of a good and polite way to react in that moment.   
  
“Where are my manners? Let’s put this moment behind us by focusing on more enjoyable pursuits. Care to join me for dinner and dessert, Steve?”   
  
Steve would have normally said no, in case the guy was some deranged individual, but the way Lucifer called him Steve made him throw caution to the wind. Very few people called him that these days, and even fewer did it so casually.   
  
A few hours later, Steve was in Lucifer’s penthouse above Lux. They had been drinking and talking since the moment Lucifer had made his move and Steve had declined. Surprisingly, Lucifer hadn’t felt vexed by the rejection and he had seen that Steve still needed closeness, but of another kind. Which he, Lucifer, had learnt the value of since Chloe had walked into his life.   
  
In the morning, Lucifer gave Steve a ride in his vintage convertible back to where he was staying. They shook hands when they parted, after exchanging contact details, and in the way Steve’s hand lingered on his, Lucifer learned that there was a possible future among many in which he and Steve could start something. But not now, not here.   
  
He gripped the key to the car way too hard behind his back as he watched Steve walked away and only got back into his car once the Captain had disappeared inside the hotel.   
  
Lucifer drove off and gasped when he saw the trickle of blood from his palm spread onto the steering wheel cover.   



End file.
